My point of view on the RKBA or where I stand. This OP is not intended to start a fight but if it
Last edited Wed Dec 5, 2012, 06:36 PM - Edit history (1)
is not appropriate please delete it.
I have a purpose here and that is to point out that there is space between the two extremes of banning guns and unlimited availablility of guns. We need to get to some kind of understanding I think. I think some agree with that here.
There is a point to this believe me.
My feelings about guns are these. I am not a gun grabber. I do believe the 2nd Amendment grants the right to keep and bear arms. Though I don’t believe the right is absolute, that is I don’t believe laws restricting gun ownership are unconstitutional. Even the SCOTUS said that in their recent decisions. They said someone would have to bring up the restrictions and they would rule on them, I am not quoting here but I think that is close to what Scalia said.
My gun history is this: as a kid I went hunting with my dad. He had several shotguns and he would give me his Winchester model 12 shotgun to use. We hunted pheasants and rabbits. It was not my most favorite thing to do mostly because he made me clean the rabbits and birds. Also I did not like the taste of the meat and at times there was buckshot in it. Today I am a vegetarian and that experience was part of what led me to that choice. My dad loaded his own shells and did so for some of his friends. I would go trap shooting with him at the fish and game club. Before that we kids in the neighborhood played cowboys and Indians and soldier with our toy guns. I always wanted the most realistic toy gun for Christmas. Mattel made most of them. You used greenie stickum caps placing them on the bullets and they were pretty realistic to me as a kid.
When I was 18 I bought a Colt .22 single action pistol. I think it was called a frontier scout. I got drafted and we were not permitted to take guns to boot camp so I sold it just before I went to Ft Knox.
There I learned to use the M-14. I was not a sharp shooter but I could hit the target occasionally. I was sent to Vietnam and during my year there I used the following weapons in combat or carried on duty: M-14, M-16A1, Browning .50 Cal machine gun, M-60 7.62 machine gun, M-79 grenade launcher , M-1911A1 .45 automatic pistol and grenades and smoke grenades.
I am not a stranger to guns and I own a gun now. Although is just a Ruger .22 single action pistol that I use to use for target practice when I had twenty acres in the lower Sierra Nevada mountains. I also owned a Colt single action army which I sold when I was broke and needed money. I like certain kinds of guns, mostly single action pistols and lever action rifles. I am not into the guns people buy for protection today. I respect the idea that you want a gun for protection; I am a supporter of historic gun collectors, black power shooters, hunters and just about any kind of sport use of guns.
So that’s it for me and guns.
I don’t want to own anymore guns. My wife is very uncomfortable around guns and I respect her feelings. My pistol is in a case with the cylinder removed and a gun lock on the frame. The key is not with the gun so I’ll never use it for self-defense. I don’t fear that someone will use gun violence on me any more than I fear driving my car or riding my motorcycle which are equally as dangerous in my way of looking at it. I don’t spend time worrying about it. I use to work in Los Angles in the 80’s and had to go to Watts to visit client’s offices. I had an apartment on Western Ave in a school next to the American Film institute in exchange for being a night security guard checking that the doors were locked. I was unarmed but the guards at the Film institute were armed and offered to protect me if I needed it in exchange for doing errands for them. I moved to Highland Park where the high school that was the basis for the movie “Stand and Deliver” was right up the street. I knew and interacted with local gang members on occasion. We did not go outside or apartment building at night during gang initiation month. We could hear the guns going off in the neighborhood. To join a gang you had to shoot someone. Our manager’s husband was shot one morning getting into his car to go to work. I am not a stranger to living in high crime areas yet I never felt the need to own or carry a gun.
The point to all of this is to show that I am not some pansy assed gun hater or anything like that. I do hate the growing gun culture that we have in our country today. I think the latest SCOTUS rulings on gun ownership were the result of activist right wing judges doing the bidding of ALEC and the NRA. I don’t think the interpreted the 2nd amendment but rather forced the right wing gun point of view on our country. I think that was a very bad thing for this country. I came to that conclusion by reading and fighting the gudgeon wars on this site. I did not feel this way before the last year. Gun owner DUers brought me to my conclusion and it is this. The gun culture in this country is having a very detrimental effect on our society.
When I read the threads about some gun violence and the gunners use the treads to support their gun rights issues I see how we have gone from being in shock and awe about gun violence and shootings to a “wait and get the facts” kind of thinking. I am use to this kind of reaction to gun violence. People are appalled and want some kind of answer to why. There was recognition that a tragedy had taken place and should not have happened. There are emotions involved. It was what Bob Costas was talking about this week.
I am afraid that with the growing gun culture we are losing the ability to feel the emotions that we should when there is gun violence. It is becoming an everyday occurrence. Stand your ground now tells us to don’t act or feel but wait until we know if the shooting was justified. I don’t want our society to become that cold and calculated. I don’t want it to be a common sight to see people walking around anyplace in town or out wearing guns on their belts. Inside I know that is not good for our society. So yes there is a 2nd Amendment and people do what I wish they didn’t. I won’t accept that it is a done deal and will work toward more gun restrictions. I think the gun lobby would do themselves a favor to join in the support of “reasonable” gun legislation. I can’t define that concept by myself here today. But I am sure as I am writing this that our society agrees more with me than they do with the idea that there should be no restrictions on guns. My hope is that rather than fighting for unlimited gun availability and total gun elimination gun owners and those against gun ownership will do what is in the best interest of all of us.
With this I hope I can restrain myself and no more get into the gun debates on DU since they really have no purpose other than to entertain our need to fight with someone.
= new reply since forum marked as read
Now that is done I can say thanks, my impression of you jumped a lot.
IMO there are many people who are less than extreme but take the positions in response to opposite extremism. Almost no one would support guns in the hands of felons or the mentally ill, and I suspect there are equally few that seek a total ban. Unfortunately that gets lost in almost every debate.
Whenever we hear of a shooting, whether justified or not, each side comes out with 'but if...' to support their side. (guilty as well)
It is proper to ask for details when none are known before condemning the shooter. When an argument escalates to lethal force everyone should support full prosecution.
If we can tone down the rhetoric we can focus on making everyone safer.
